Rusty Trucks (hails-additions)

Rolling build 89, commit f2393227004e.

Download Windows ZIP

Choose Branch in the in-game Updates window and enter hails-additions.

EARLY ALPHA, rolling build. This is the latest hails-additions branch of the Hailey-Ross fork: everything below is work in progress, built on top of upstream main (SK8-ENGINE/skate-3-rust-engine). Expect bugs, and please report them (see Testing and reports). You need your own Skate 3 Xbox 360 disc image; no game files are included.

Setup

1. What you need: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), a Skate 3 Xbox 360 disc image (.iso) or an extracted game folder with default.xex, a controller (Xbox / XInput; other pads through SDL3), and an internet connection for the first setup. About 10 GB free for the converted game files.
2. Download skate3rust-windows-x64.zip below (or with the link above) and extract it to a folder of its own (not inside Program Files). Optional: check it against skate3rust-windows-x64.zip.sha256.
3. Download PLAY-WITH-LOG.bat below and put it in the same folder as skate3rust.exe.
4. Start the game by double-clicking PLAY-WITH-LOG.bat (or skate3rust.exe if you don't want a log). On the first start, choose your Skate 3 ISO, or default.xex in an extracted game folder. Setup converts the skater, animations, all maps, audio and the living world data into the data folder next to the exe, then starts the game. The first conversion takes a while; later starts are quick.
5. Updates: Esc > EXTRAS > Updates. This build looks for updates on this fork. Choose Branch and enter hails-additions to follow the rolling build of this branch; in-place updates only refresh what changed.

Each extracted copy runs its own setup. Keep the data folder next to the exe.

Every start checks your converted game files (a fraction of a second, in the background; the log says ASSET_CHECK). If an update needs newer ones, the Guide / F1 / Esc menu says GAME FILES OUT OF DATE: open Extras > Refresh Game Files and the game restarts into setup, converts only what changed and starts again. This also catches copies an earlier build updated without converting the new menu files (there, Start opened the old menu instead of Skate 3's pause menu).

Refreshing game files and trying early features

Refreshing your game files. New builds sometimes need game files converted from your disc that an older setup did not make (new menus, props, living world data). You don't need to set up again from scratch:

1. Update the game (Esc > EXTRAS > Updates, Branch hails-additions), or extract the new zip over your old folder, keeping its data folder.
2. Start the game. If your converted files are older than the build needs, the Guide / F1 / Esc menu shows GAME FILES OUT OF DATE.
3. Open Extras > Refresh Game Files (the row only appears while files are out of date). The game restarts into setup, converts only what changed and starts again. It reuses your disc image if it is still where setup found it, otherwise it asks for it again.
4. Still seeing old menus or missing props? Send the session log from PLAY-WITH-LOG.bat: the ASSET_CHECK lines name the files that differ.

Opting in to early features. Features that are still being tested are off by default. Switch them on in the Guide / F1 / Esc menu in the OPT-INS section. Changes are saved, and most take effect at once:

• Zombie Mode: the retail zombie cheat until the cheat screen exists: yellow screen, no traffic, every ped comes after you.
• NPC Skater Physics: NPC skaters near you run full skater physics and can bail.
• More Audible World (not retail, from the next start): more cars, peds and NPC skaters heard at once.
• Ped Speech: peds, pros and the announcer talk. Their speech has to be decoded from your disc first (about 3.4 GB and a few minutes), so switching it on offers Extras > Refresh Game Files.

For a single run you can still use the old variables instead (set SKATE_ZOMBIE=1, SKATE_NPC_SIM=1 before starting). Please mention which opt-ins were on when you report a problem.

Controls (the new parts)

• Start opens Skate 3's own pause menu (its real menu files from your disc): A selects, B goes back, the d-pad / arrows move. Options > Game Settings is the retail settings screen; Learn > Trick Guide is Skate 3's own trick guide.
• Guide (the Xbox / PS / Home button), F1 or Esc (keyboard) opens the menu: MAPS (switch maps and drop-in spots without restarting), SKATER (Camera angle High / Low), GRAPHICS (display, sound, Frame-time counter, NPC draw distance), EXTRAS (mods, updates), OPT-INS (features still being tested). The menu now looks and works like the recomp's settings screen: B / Esc goes back one level, LB / RB (or Q / E) switch category, Y (or R) resets a row, the mouse works too.
• Y: step off the board. LT (on foot): drop the board.
• Hold RB next to a bench, bin or other movable prop to grab it: the left stick pushes, pulls and side-steps it, the right stick turns you and the prop together. Your board drops when you grab. Let go of RB to drop the prop.

Testing and reports

Every report with a log helps. Logs let us see exactly where and when something went wrong, so we don't have to guess.

How to use logging

• Start the game with PLAY-WITH-LOG.bat. It saves the whole session to logs\game-<date>-<time>.stderr.log next to the exe and shows the file name when you quit. One file per session.
• Peds are logged too: the log notes your position and the nearest ped every 2.5 s, and any ped drawn floating above the floor gets a PED_FLOATING line with its exact position, so a floating ped can be found from the log alone.
• The menus and rumble are logged as well: every menu key you press and which screen took it, what opened and closed, every setting you changed (old and new value) and every rumble with its pad. Zombie mode logs when it is on and how many peds are following you.
• If the game closes on its own, it also writes a crash report to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Skate3RustEngine\CrashReports (paste that path into Explorer's address bar). The crash report is short; please attach the session log as well.
• For frame rate problems, turn on GRAPHICS > Frame-time counter before you play. It shows the 1 % low, the worst frame and hitches (a plain FPS average hides stutter); include a screenshot or video of it with your report.
• Try to keep one problem per session: start a session, reproduce it, quit. Note roughly when it happened (minutes in) and where (map and spot). A short video makes it much easier.
• Logs contain no personal files, but read them before sharing if you want to be sure.

How to report: open a report here: New test report (a form with the questions below is filled in for you). Attach the .stderr.log, the crash report if there is one, and a video if you have it. Say what retail Skate 3 does differently if you know.

Please test and send logs for

1. Carrying props: grab benches, bins and vending machines (hold RB) and push, pull, side-step and turn them. Your board should now drop when you grab a prop. Do props stay on the ground and settle when you let go (they used to sink, rock forever or fall through the floor)? Does the grab ever let go on its own?
2. NPC skaters: some now ride fakie on purpose, like the recorded lines (with the fakie upper-body animation). Tell us if one looks like it rides backwards by mistake, or spins round when it switches to another line.
3. Pedestrians: anyone floating, stuck walking on the spot, walking through things, or looking wrong (body shape, clothing colours)? New: peds use vending machines, sit on benches, take newspapers and throw empty cans into bins; many carry something (bags, coffee, a skateboard, a map). Annoy one that holds a can: it may throw it at you (a can pushes you, a light one should not knock you down). Tell us if a held item floats away from the hand or a ped gets stuck at a bench or machine. Peds now hold their item with the carrying arm while they walk, and a throw moves only the upper body.
4. Props appearing and disappearing: like retail, placed props (benches, bins, cones and so on) now exist only near you: they appear within about 90 m and go beyond 100 m, and a knocked-over prop is back in its place when you return. Tell us if a prop pops in right in front of you, vanishes while you look at it, or a ped sits on an invisible bench. To compare, start with set SKATE_DMO_STREAM=0 (props always there, as before).
5. Zombie mode (opt-in until the cheat screen exists): Guide / F1 / Esc menu > Opt-Ins > Zombie Mode: the screen turns yellow, the streets empty of traffic and every ped comes after you. Tell us how it plays.
6. Cars: a car now pushes a pedestrian out of its way (that is what retail does, no knock-down). Cars driving through things, fl...

Hails' Additions: EARLY ALPHA 2

EARLY ALPHA 2. This is a snapshot of the hails-additions branch of the Hailey-Ross fork: everything below is work in progress, built on top of upstream main (SK8-ENGINE/skate-3-rust-engine). Expect bugs, and please report them (see Testing and reports). You need your own Skate 3 Xbox 360 disc image; no game files are included.

Setup

1. What you need: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), a Skate 3 Xbox 360 disc image (.iso) or an extracted game folder with default.xex, a controller (Xbox / XInput; other pads through SDL3), and an internet connection for the first setup. About 10 GB free for the converted game files.
2. Download skate3rust-windows-x64.zip below and extract it to a folder of its own (not inside Program Files). Optional: check it against skate3rust-windows-x64.zip.sha256.
3. Download PLAY-WITH-LOG.bat below and put it in the same folder as skate3rust.exe.
4. Start the game by double-clicking PLAY-WITH-LOG.bat (or skate3rust.exe if you don't want a log). On the first start, choose your Skate 3 ISO, or default.xex in an extracted game folder. Setup converts the skater, animations, all maps, audio and the living world data into the data folder next to the exe, then starts the game. The first conversion takes a while; later starts are quick.
5. Updates: Esc > EXTRAS > Updates. This build looks for updates on this fork. Choose Branch and enter hails-additions to follow the rolling build of this branch; in-place updates only refresh what changed.

Each extracted copy runs its own setup. Keep the data folder next to the exe.

Controls (the new parts)

• Esc (keyboard) opens the menu: MAPS (switch maps and drop-in spots without restarting), SKATER (Camera angle High / Low), GRAPHICS (display, sound, Frame-time counter, NPC draw distance), EXTRAS (mods, updates).
• Y: step off the board. LT (on foot): drop the board.
• Hold RB next to a bench, bin or other movable prop to grab it: the left stick pushes, pulls and side-steps it, the right stick turns you and the prop together. Let go of RB to drop it.

Testing and reports

Every report with a log helps. Logs let us see exactly where and when something went wrong, so we don't have to guess.

How to use logging

• Start the game with PLAY-WITH-LOG.bat. It saves the whole session to logs\game-<date>-<time>.stderr.log next to the exe and shows the file name when you quit. One file per session.
• If the game closes on its own, it also writes a crash report to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Skate3RustEngine\CrashReports (paste that path into Explorer's address bar). The crash report is short; please attach the session log as well.
• For frame rate problems, turn on GRAPHICS > Frame-time counter before you play. It shows the 1 % low, the worst frame and hitches (a plain FPS average hides stutter); include a screenshot or video of it with your report.
• Try to keep one problem per session: start a session, reproduce it, quit. Note roughly when it happened (minutes in) and where (map and spot). A short video makes it much easier.
• Logs contain no personal files, but read them before sharing if you want to be sure.

How to report: open a report here: New test report (a form with the questions below is filled in for you). Attach the .stderr.log, the crash report if there is one, and a video if you have it. Say what retail Skate 3 does differently if you know.

Please test and send logs for

1. Carrying props: grab benches and bins (hold RB) and push, pull and side-step them in every direction. Does it go the way the stick points? Does the prop stay on the ground (benches, trash cans and vending machines have all been pushed through the floor)? Does letting go ever close the game? (That crash is fixed in this build; tell us if it comes back.)
2. NPC skaters: follow one for a while. Do they ever ride backwards (facing one way, moving the other)? Do limbs pop between animations? Do their tricks look right?
3. Pedestrians: anyone floating, stuck walking on the spot, walking through things, or looking wrong (body shape, clothing colours)?
4. Cars: cars driving through things, flying, or vanishing; how being hit by a car feels compared with retail.
5. Grinding: spots where you bail for no reason. The rails at the PCU Library spawn are known; tell us others.
6. Frame rate: any drops or stutter, with the Frame-time counter on (send a screenshot or video of it). Throwing the board far away used to drop the frame rate; does it still?
7. Audio: sounds that are missing, late, doubled, too loud or quiet compared with retail.
8. Setup: if the first conversion fails or stops, send the setup window's text and the folder the game is in (long paths and closing the console are handled now).

Fixed in this build

• Game closed when letting go of a carried prop: while carrying, the walk cycle's timing was asked to reach a phase in zero seconds, which turned it into an invalid number; on letting go, the stand-up animation could not pick a clip and the game stopped. Carrying now holds the walk cycle still. Found from a tester log thanks to the new error line, which now names the broken animation input and the clips it was choosing between.
• Better crash logs: any animation choice that gets an invalid input now names that input and the candidate clips in the session log.

Added since main

Each item has a document in docs/hails-additions/ and, where open, an upstream PR.

Gameplay and world

• Living world (early milestones, upstream draft SK8-ENGINE#52): ambient NPC skaters riding the retail recorded lines (they chain from line to line, blend between animations like the player, play their recorded tricks and leave beyond 120 m like retail), pedestrians with their retail models, tinted clothing, animation, fades and navigation on the retail navmesh (they walk round props), and traffic: road graph, traffic signals, the vehicle census and cars driving on screen. All from the disc data, seeded and multiplayer-ready, with a Lua mod API (sdk.world.set_tuning) and an NPC draw distance option.
• Movable objects (SK8-ENGINE#15 follow-up): grab, carry, drag and drop props on foot (hold RB, left stick moves the object, right stick turns), placement mode with saved layouts, authored prop physics; NPC skaters push props too.
• Water (SK8-ENGINE#30): retail water behaviour: shallow water is solid, deep water floats you and the board, bail in water, water camera and vignette, entry splash, animated water from the game.
• Retail map spawns (SK8-ENGINE#27): every map starts at its retail-authored start point and heading.
• Named trigger volumes (SK8-ENGINE#50): trigger volumes exported from the maps and tracked like retail, moddable.
• Camera Angle setting (SK8-ENGINE#47): the retail Low / High camera option, moddable.
• Board solver with retail's 50 constraint iterations (SK8-ENGINE#35).

Audio (upstream SK8-ENGINE#32, one PR)

• A native port of Skate 3's retail audio engine: the AEMS patch programs, voice graph, MixMap mixer, buses, the granular rolling sound, board contacts, tricks, slides and every player sound component.
• Retail world audio: map ambience zones, emitters, location one-shots, traffic, ped and NPC skater sounds, the car alarm, session marker sounds and the teleport crackle, the announcer channel.
• Audio modding: an audio.json content overlay, custom map audio, mod voices, live tuning, mod emitters and sound rules, audio events for mods.

Input

• SDL3 gamepad backend (SK8-ENGINE#24): wider controller support with exact XInput-shaped input and an XInput fallback (tested with an Xbox Elite Series 2).

Setup and tools

• Windows long paths (SK8-ENGINE#23): setup enables long paths for the pro roster and relaunches when needed.
• Setup keeps converting when the console window is closed (SK8-ENGINE#42).
• Faster setup (SK8-ENGINE#29, SK8-ENGINE#51): duplicate stream copies skipped, the character customiser runs in parallel, threaded map writing, below-normal priority and budget overrides.
• One map validator pass (SK8-ENGINE#28): all map checks stream through one --validate-maps process with spawn and start-up warnings.
• Published research and regression tools, and shareable development skills for working on the engine (SK8-ENGINE#37).
• Fork releases: the release workflow builds, publishes and updates from the repository it runs in.

Fixes

• Frame drop with the board thrown away: a hidden board no longer scans every collision triangle each tick.
• Invisible walls (SK8-ENGINE#25): surfaceless zone and trigger boxes no longer act as collision.
• Offboard jump runaway (SK8-ENGINE#40): fixes the "Nonfinite BipedAir launch packet" crash (SK8-ENGINE#10).
• Crash reports (SK8-ENGINE#41): keep the first panic, drop <unknown> frames, truncate long lines.
• Lua empty tables (SK8-ENGINE#45): empty tables read as empty lists in mod command list fields.
• Diagnostics (SK8-ENGINE#51): a frame-time counter and log, sdk.snapshot.frame for mods.

In progress

Being worked on now, ported from the retail game code (the rolling hails-additions build gets them first):

• NPC skaters riding backwards: r...

Hails' Additions: EARLY ALPHA 1

EARLY ALPHA. This is the hails-additions branch of the Hailey-Ross fork: everything below is work in progress, built on top of upstream main (SK8-ENGINE/skate-3-rust-engine). Expect bugs. You still need your own Skate 3 Xbox 360 disc image; no game files are included.

Install like the upstream release: unzip, run support\skate3setup.exe once with your disc image, then start skate3rust.exe. The updater in this build looks for updates on this fork (Hailey-Ross/rusty-trucks).

Added since main

Each item has a document in docs/hails-additions/ and, where open, an upstream PR.

Gameplay and world

• Living world (early milestones, upstream draft SK8-ENGINE#52): ambient NPC skaters riding the retail recorded lines (they chain from line to line, blend between animations like the player, play their recorded tricks and leave beyond 120 m like retail), pedestrians with their retail models, tinted clothing, animation, fades and navigation on the retail navmesh (they walk round props), and traffic: road graph, traffic signals, the vehicle census and cars driving on screen. All from the disc data, seeded and multiplayer-ready, with a Lua mod API (sdk.world.set_tuning) and an NPC draw distance option.
• Movable objects (SK8-ENGINE#15 follow-up): grab, carry, drag and drop props on foot (hold RB, left stick moves the object, right stick turns), placement mode with saved layouts, authored prop physics; NPC skaters push props too.
• Water (SK8-ENGINE#30): retail water behaviour: shallow water is solid, deep water floats you and the board, bail in water, water camera and vignette, entry splash, animated water from the game.
• Retail map spawns (SK8-ENGINE#27): every map starts at its retail-authored start point and heading.
• Named trigger volumes (SK8-ENGINE#50): trigger volumes exported from the maps and tracked like retail, moddable.
• Camera Angle setting (SK8-ENGINE#47): the retail Low / High camera option, moddable.
• Board solver with retail's 50 constraint iterations (SK8-ENGINE#35).

Audio (upstream SK8-ENGINE#32, one PR)

• A native port of Skate 3's retail audio engine: the AEMS patch programs, voice graph, MixMap mixer, buses, the granular rolling sound, board contacts, tricks, slides and every player sound component.
• Retail world audio: map ambience zones, emitters, location one-shots, traffic, ped and NPC skater sounds, the car alarm, session marker sounds and the teleport crackle, the announcer channel.
• Audio modding: an audio.json content overlay, custom map audio, mod voices, live tuning, mod emitters and sound rules, audio events for mods.

Input

• SDL3 gamepad backend (SK8-ENGINE#24): wider controller support with exact XInput-shaped input and an XInput fallback (tested with an Xbox Elite Series 2).

Setup and tools

• Windows long paths (SK8-ENGINE#23): setup enables long paths for the pro roster and relaunches when needed.
• Setup keeps converting when the console window is closed (SK8-ENGINE#42).
• Faster setup (SK8-ENGINE#29, SK8-ENGINE#51): duplicate stream copies skipped, the character customiser runs in parallel, threaded map writing, below-normal priority and budget overrides.
• One map validator pass (SK8-ENGINE#28): all map checks stream through one --validate-maps process with spawn and start-up warnings.
• Published research and regression tools, and shareable development skills for working on the engine (SK8-ENGINE#37).
• Fork releases: the release workflow builds, publishes and updates from the repository it runs in.

Fixes

• Frame drop with the board thrown away: a hidden board no longer scans every collision triangle each tick.
• Invisible walls (SK8-ENGINE#25): surfaceless zone and trigger boxes no longer act as collision.
• Offboard jump runaway (SK8-ENGINE#40): fixes the "Nonfinite BipedAir launch packet" crash (SK8-ENGINE#10).
• Crash reports (SK8-ENGINE#41): keep the first panic, drop <unknown> frames, truncate long lines.
• Lua empty tables (SK8-ENGINE#45): empty tables read as empty lists in mod command list fields.
• Diagnostics (SK8-ENGINE#51): a frame-time counter and log, sdk.snapshot.frame for mods.

Known issues

From the latest play tests (fixes in progress for SK8-ENGINE#52):

• Carrying props: while holding a prop you get pushed forwards or slightly to the side and cannot move fully freely (carry movement is not retail's yet, and stepping up curbs while dragging is lost). The grab lands close to the prop's edge but not exactly on it. A dragged bench can fall through the ground, especially near the curb by the DownTown default spawn. Your skateboard stays with you when you grab a prop (retail drops it on the floor).
• NPC skaters: after switching to another recorded line one can ride backwards (facing one way, moving the other), including through grinds. Some animations still look stiff, grabs show an ollie, and trick height, grind variety, landings, spins and fakie / goofy are not finished. They push props but do not steer round obstacles or bail on heavy props yet.
• Pedestrians: one can stand idle in the air above the wide DownTown stairs; one model walks stiffly and one has a flat head; peds still need a lighting pass; ped clothing colours follow the retail shader but are not fully checked against retail.
• Cars: pedestrians pass straight through cars (retail cars knock them down). Paint colours and glass are estimates (the vehicle shader is not decoded yet).
• NPC draw distance (Pause > GRAPHICS) is a quality-of-life option, not retail; higher settings cost frame time.
• Grinding: some grind locations make you bail at random. This also happens on upstream main, so it is not caused by this fork's changes; a fix is planned.
• Known upstream test failures (also on main): pipelines_accept_valid_group_outputs_when_fingerprint_changes (skate-game), a_moving_group_8_body_... and predictive_contacts_and_retention_... (skate-core).

Known missing features

• NPC skaters: full skater physics and bails, trick choice from the retail profiles, grabs, grind variety, landings, spins, fakie and goofy, obstacle avoidance.
• Pedestrians: behaviour (perception, moods, reactions), stumbling and knock-downs, warnings, chases and takedowns, speech and conversations, hand props, benches, phones and vending machines.
• Traffic: cars do not stop for you, honk, change lanes or park yet; no car collisions, roof landings or bails from cars; no skitching.
• Movable objects: retail object streaming by distance, per-type physics values from the game data, the safety layer and reset rule, grindable props.
• Modes: Free Play options (Traffic, Pedestrians, A.I. Skaters), zombie mode, the standing pros.
• Multiplayer for the living world: built ready for it, no networking yet.
• Teammate recruit menu: teammate looks come from settings/living_world_teammates.json until the menu system exists.

Credits

Built on SK8-ENGINE/skate-3-rust-engine and its contributors. Research used the skate3recomp static recompilation (rexglue, Xenia) as reference only; no game code or data is included.